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The provisions of bail and remand are also severely restricted and once held under this law, the accused is kept in jail without charges against him. This is nothing less than the preventive detention. Besides this, there is the provision of summary trials and trials in the absence of the accused or its pleader. This is as per Section 29, sub-section (5). I would say that this has been done with ulterior motives. "The witness need not be disclosed". The police has organised their own witness to prove that they are right. They do not behave independently and appropriately. This is bound to be misused because there is no punishment for the violation of this section. Even as this law defines crime first and foremost on intent, and since intent is to be judged and prosecution launched by a corrupt and malleable law enforcing machinery, the use and misuse coalesce. POTO obliterates the distinction between innocent and guilty, the social visionaries and anti-social civil libertarians and crook, poets and conmen, secessionist and scroundels, peasant, revolutionaries and thieves – all coalesce into one category, that is the terrorist. So, because of that we oppose it. I think, POTO will bring emergency through back-door and because of that we oppose it. We are not going to learn patriotism from others. We have suffered the maximum and we know that we have to suffer more in the hands of these fascist forces but we are not going to surrender. Lastly, Sir, it was asked as to why the Bengal Government talks of POCO. I think I should make the point clear. There is much noise about POCO. The Union Government argues that if West Bengal Government brings POCO, why are we opposing POTO. We oppose it because there is nothing common between the two for comparison. Only ignorance is the reason of comparison. POCO is absolutely case-specific. It was thought of in the context of organised crime like kidnapping. This proposed Act has a very limited purpose within the State. But it is being compared with hundreds of draconian clauses of POTO. One newspaper, occasionally critical of the Government of West Bengal, made certain comments and I would like to quote The Telegraph, Kolkata, dated 8.11.2001:

"In fact he (Shri Budhadev Bhattacharya) had been discussing the idea of some such law before the September 11 terrorist attacks in US, which prompted POTO because organised crimes like kidnapping for ransom and gang battles were on the rise in the State in recent months. The abduction of the Khadim owner (Businessman) also exposed that the new crime networks are spread across several States and sometimes beyond the country’s borders, the Government felt it needed wide powers not only to crack these networks but also to prevent organised crime."So, this is the reality. Without knowing anything the Members are talking about POCO. It has absolutely case-specific proposals and no comparison of it can be made with all the hundreds of draconian anti-human, uncivilised provisions that are there in POTO. Because of all this I oppose it with all might at my command. We know it will be misused and whenever it will be misused we will fight on the streets against all sorts of misuse as we have done in the past.